Browsing: Baseball

Boston Red Sox shortstop, coach, manager and all-around legend Johnny Pesky died Monday at age 92. The Fenway fans’ seven-decade love affair with Pesky went well beyond his stat sheet, even though he hit .307 over 10 seasons and led the American League in hits three times — 1942, 1946 and 1947. What happened in 1943, 1944 and 1945? Like so many others, baseball icon or no, Pesky went to war. He began his naval aviator training in Massachusetts before the 1942 season ended, learning alongside Ted Williams at Amherst College. (Williams had it down cold, apparently — he would…

A few academy-sports quick hits for a Wednesday afternoon: Army-Navy kickoff set. The Black Knights and Midshipmen will kick off at 3 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 8 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, according to a CBS news release. Times for the other Navy games on that release aren’t typos — the Mids will play Notre Dame at 9 a.m. Eastern on Sept. 1 in Dublin, and they will face the Air Force Falcons at 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Oct. 6 in Colorado Springs, Colo. — that’s a 9:30 a.m. local start. Hat tip on the Army-Navy news to the Times…

As you know by now, the Army baseball team’s best season (in terms of total wins, 41) is over, the Black Knights the victim of a 10th-inning single from Oklahoma’s Max White in a 2-1 loss. Here are some photos from Army’s three-day adventure in Charlottesville, Va., at the NCAA Charlottesville Regional. The entire regional tournament was pushed back a day after monsoon rains invaded central Virginia last Friday.

A quick tour around the Internet’s military-themed sports news, from the shooting range to the MMA cage to West Point Build-A-Bears: Szarenski’s second qualification. Army Sgt. 1st Class Daryl Szarenski will shoot in two events at the London Olympics this summer after winning the 50-meter free pistol qualifier over the weekend at Fort Benning, Ga. Szarenski, heading to his fourth Olympics, beat his closest competitor, Nick Mowrer, by almost a dozen points, according to the USA Shooting results release, but Mowrer can’t be too upset — because Szarenski already earned his trip to London, Mowrer will use the Team USA…

A Thursday tour around the Web for military-themed sports goodness: Ben Garland update. We promised we’d keep you informed, and here’s the latest: Garland, a first lieutenant, ditched his Denver Broncos uniform Wednesday for some traditional cammies, being sworn in as a member of the Colorado Air National Guard in front of the team’s training facility. Get the whole story from our good friends at USA Today here. Garland will do public relations work for the Guard while trying to make the Broncos as a defensive lineman. J.J. Avila update. In April, we told you the ex-Naval Academy hoopster and…

A handful of military-sports links for a Tuesday morning — weekend stuff you might’ve missed, some scheduling notes, and your typical mid-America military invasion (no, not this one): 1. Tank vs. track: When you absolutely, positively have to destroy a race track surface so it can be repaved and ready for a fall NASCAR Sprint Cup race, call in the National Guard. That’s what they did in Kansas on Sunday, using military equipment and know-how to break up the asphalt. As deployments go, you could do worse than the infield of a Sprint Cup race. 2. Falcon left behind: Missing…

Three quick academy sports hits to start your week: 1. Back on the bench. Doug Wojcik, who set a variety of Navy assists records while playing alongside all-everything center David Robinson and later served as an assistant coach with the Mids, was hired by the College of Charleston over the weekend to take over for retiring head coach Bobby Cremins. Wojcik was fired last month after seven seasons at Tulsa, compiling a 140-92 record but never reaching the NCAA tournament. Speaking of all-everything college players, Wojcik will be replaced at Tulsa by Kansas assistant Danny Manning. 2. Four-game sweep. There…

Almost four years after getting drafted, former Naval Academy pitcher Mitch Harris is getting onto the field with the pros. Lt. j.g. Harris, who served as training officer aboard the guided-missile frigate Carr last year, is taking advantage of time between deployments to join the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor-leaguers at spring training. Harris, drafted in the 13th round in 2008, is hoping the Navy will give the OK to pitch in the minors this year. He has one year left on his service commitment. You can read more on Harris’ story here (for recent developments) and here (how things shook…

U.S. Military Academy second baseman Zach Price was recently named one of 30 candidates for the Lowe’s Collegiate Senior CLASS Award, according to the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal. Price, a senior at Army, is a native of Cantonment, Fla., and one of the Black Knights’ captains. He entered March hitting .303 after his first six games of the 2012 season. A major in systems engineering, Price started the season with a .318 career batting average. The award is presented each year to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year across 10 different sports, according to the award’s…